Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a British detective drama television series based on a series of novels by Colin Dexter. It starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. The series comprises 33 two-hour episodes (100 minutes excluding commercials) — 20 more episodes than there are novels – produced between 1987 and 2000. Dexter made uncredited cameo appearances in all but three of the episodes. Overview The series, first shown in the UK on the ITV network, was made by Zenith Productions for Central Independent Television. Between 1995 and 1996 it was produced by Carlton Television and, towards the series end, was made by Carlton and WGBH. Every episode involved a new murder investigation, featuring several guest stars, and showed a complete story. Writer Anthony Minghella scripted three including the first, The Dead of Jericho, which was filmed in the summer of 1985, and aired on 6 January 1987 featuring Gemma Jones, Patrick Troughton and James Laurenson. Its other writers included Julian Mitchell (10 episodes), Daniel Boyle (5) and Alma Cullen (4 episodes), and its directors included John Madden (4 episodes), Herbert Wise (3), Peter Hammond (3), Adrian Shergold (3) and Danny Boyle (2 episodes).http://epguides.com/InspectorMorse/guide.shtml The series remains popular and is frequently repeated on ITV and ITV3 in the UK. In the U.S., the series has been continually rebroadcast, primarily on PBS channels. Cast and crew Main characters: *John Thaw as Detective Inspector (later DCI) Endeavour Morse *Kevin Whately as Detective Sergeant Robbie Lewis *James Grout as Chief Superintendent Strange Other recurring characters:[2] *Peter Woodthorpe as Max (pathologist) in series 1–2 *Amanda Hillwood as Dr Grayling Russell (pathologist) in series 3 *Clare Holman as Dr Laura Hobson (pathologist) in specials Main productionCREDITS:[2] *Kenny McBain, producer of series 1–2 *Chris Burt, producer of series 3, 7 and specials *David Lascelles, producer of series 4–5 *Deirdre Keir, producer of series 6 *Ted Childs, executive producer *Rebecca Eaton, American executive producer of episodes 31–33 *Laurie Greenwood, associate producer Production This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2013)This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (May 2014)Sergeant Lewis (left) and Inspector Morse Morse was played by John Thaw, and the faithful Detective Sergeant Lewis by Kevin Whately. The character of Lewis was transformed from the elderly Welshman and ex-boxer of the novels to a much youngerGeordie police sergeant with a family, as a foil to Morse's cynical streak. Morse's first name, Endeavour, is revealed on only one occasion when he explains to a lady friend that his father was obsessed with Captain James Cook, and for this reason he was named after [http://www.wikiwand.com/en/HMS_Endeavour HMS Endeavour]. On the other occasions, he usually answers "Morse. Everyone just calls me Morse" or dryly replies "Inspector", when asked what his first name is.[3] Thaw had a special appreciation of the fact that Morse was different from classic detectives such asHercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. Morse was brilliant but he was not always right. He often arrested the wrong person or came to the wrong conclusion. As a result, unlike many classic sleuths, Morse does not always simply arrest his culprit; ironic circumstances have the case end and the crime brought to him. Also, Morse was a romantic—frequently mildly and gently flirting with or asking out colleagues, witnesses or suspects—occasionally bordering on the unprofessional, but had little success in love. Morse is a character whose talents and intelligence are being wasted in positions that fail to match his abilities. Several references are made to the fact that Morse would have been promoted above and beyondChief Inspector at Thames Valley CID, but his cynicism and lack of ambition, coupled also to veiled hints that he may have made enemies in high places, frustrate his progression despite his Oxford connections. Morse is a highly credible detective and plausible human being. His penchant for drinking, his life filled with difficult personal relationships, and his negligence toward his health, however, make him a more tragic character than previous classic sleuths. Morse's eventual death in the final episode "The Remorseful Day" is caused byHEART PROBLEMS exacerbated by heavy drinking, differing from the literary character's diabetes-related demise. Inspector Morse was filmed for ITV using 16mm film stock. Since its production, there have been a number of releases of the show on DVD using various remastered editions of the episodes in the 4:3 ratio. In recent years, ITV has overseen a high definition restoration of the drama from the original 16mm negatives so as to boost the amount of HD content on ITV3 HD. Many of these HD episodes retain the original 4:3 ratio, though some of the later films (including the series finale) have been opened-out into a 16:9 widescreen frame. These more recent remastered editions have not been released on Blu-ray.[4] Morse's interests Morse had 'highbrow' passions: music (especially opera; Mozart and Wagner among his favourites), poetry, art, the classics, British real ale, classic cars, and cryptic crossword puzzles. When seen at home Morse is usually listening to music on his Roksan Xerxes record player,[5][6] solving a crossword, reading classic literature, or drinking ale. While working, Morse subsists on quickly-downed pints of ale in pubs, usually bought by Lewis, who struggles to keep up. Many of his cases touch on Morse's interests, and it is often his knowledge that helps him solve them. In "The Death of the Self", the episode ends with Morse seeing one of the characters, an opera singer recovering from a long absence due to stage fright, make her 'comeback' performance at the amphitheatre in Verona, while in "Twilight of the Gods", he investigates the life of one of his opera idols, Gwladys Probert, a world-famous soprano. In "Who Killed Harry Field?", the murder victim is a painter, and in "The Way Through the Woods", Morse researches thePre-Raphaelite movement to aid his investigations. In several episodes Morse's crossword-solving ability helps him to spot people who have changed their identities by creating a new name using an anagram. In "Masonic Mysteries", he is maliciously implicated in the murder of a woman when his Times newspaper with the crossword puzzle filled in in his handwriting is placed in the victim's house. In that same episode the writer names Morse's old Inspector from when he was a detective sergeant as 'Macnutt', a homage to D.S. Macnutt, the famous and influential Observer puzzle setter 'Ximenes'. In "The Sins of the Fathers", he investigates a murder in a brewery-owning family, and in the first episode of the series, "The Dead of Jericho", he compares the life of a dead woman with that of Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus. The same episode also introduced his Jaguar Mark 2 automobile, which is damaged at the beginning and the end of the story being used to prevent the escape of the perpetrators. His interest in classic cars is also explored in "Driven to Distraction", in which he suspects a car-salesman of murder. He seems to dislike Jeremy Boynton so strongly that he refers to Morse's own Jaguar as "she", which convinces Morse of his guilt. In "Cherubim and Seraphim", he investigates the suicide of his niece and discusses with her English teacher her interest in the poet Sylvia Plath, who also killed herself. The teacher defends the teaching of Plath's poetry to students, saying that her suicide would not influence students to do the same. Investigating the killing of a retired detective in "Second Time Around", Morse is haunted by an early case of his in which a young girl had been murdered and an obvious suspect could have very well been innocent. Music The theme and incidental music for the series was written by Barrington Pheloung and utilises a motifbased on the Morse code for "M.O.R.S.E.". In the documentary, The Mystery of Morse, Pheloung states that he occasionally spelled out the name of the killer in Morse code in the music, or alternatively spelled out the name of another character as a red herring. The series also included opera and other classical genres as part of its soundtrack, most notably pieces by Richard Wagner and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (whose''Magic Flute'' is a significant plot device in one episode). Locations Beaumont College (in the TV episode "The Last Enemy") and Lonsdale College (in The Riddle of the Third Mile, the book on which "The Last Enemy" was based) are both fictional Oxford colleges. The real Brasenose College and Exeter College were used to represent Lonsdale, while Corpus Christi was used for Beaumont. Both fictional names are from real streets in Oxford. There is a Lonsdale College at Lancaster University. St Saviour's College in the episode "Fat Chance" is also fictitious, though New College was used as the location for it. Merton and University College were used for the fictional Beaufort College in the episode "The Infernal Serpent". Christ Church appears in "The Daughters of Cain" as the fictional Wolsey College. In a number of episodes, the main quad at Wadham College is used, especially the classic view as seen from the main entrance—unlike the students, the actors are allowed to walk on the grass. Eton College was used extensively as an alternative set to depict various parts of Oxford through the series, notably the county court in the episode "The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn", while the nearby school of St John's Beaumont, Old Windsor, became the Foreign Examinations Syndicate in the same episode, with both external and internal filming taking place there. Many of the generic locations used throughout the series, including Morse's house, were situated in Ealing, London, amongst the residential streets to the north of Ealing Broadway. Some scenes were also filmed at Brunel University and Hillingdon Hospital both in West London. The Port of Dover was used for Deceived byFLIGHT episode.[7] Props The Regency red 1960 Jaguar Mark 2 2.4L car (withNUMBER PLATE 248 RPA) used by Morse throughout the television series became synonymous with the main character, despite Morse's driving a Lancia in the early novels. (After the start of the TV series the novels changed to the Jaguar). The Jaguar was given away in a competition a year after filming ended, and in 2002 it was auctioned for £53,200, many times the going rate for a "normal" 2.4.[8] In November 2005 it was sold again for more than £100,000.[9] Spinoffs 'Lewis' The spin-off Lewis, starring Kevin Whately as the now-promoted (and widowed, making the character's situation closer to Morse's) Inspector Lewis, premiered in 2006 on ITV. So far, eight series have been produced, with the most recent being shown in early 2014. It airs in the US on PBS under the title''Inspector Lewis''. 'Endeavour' In 2012 ITV aired a two-hour special prequel film, Endeavour, portraying a young Morse, with author Colin Dexter's participation. Set in 1965, Shaun Evansplays the young Detective Constable Morse, who is preparing to hand in his resignation when he becomes embroiled in an investigation involving a missing schoolgirl. This was followed in 2013 by a 4 episode series, and in 2014 by a further 4 episodes. Episodes *List of Inspector Morse episodes References Category:1980s British television series Category:1990s British television series Category:2000s British television series Category:1987 British television programme debuts Category:2000 British television programme endings Category:Anthony Award-winning works Category:British crime television series Category:Carlton Television Category:Detective television series Category:Inspector Morse Category:ITV television dramas Category:Television programs based on novels Category:Television shows set in Oxford Category:Television series by ITV Studios Category:English-language television programming Category:Television series set in the 1980s Category:Television series set in the 1990s